At the close of last week three dolphins were found dead, as a consequence of US Navy explosives exercises. The bitter irony here is that these exercises were allowed by a Supreme Court ruling back in October 2008.
In the ruling, Judge Roberts deferred to the “expert testimony” of the US Navy in sorting out environmental and national security priorities – brushing aside the mandates of the National Environmental Policies Act (NEPA).
One of the critical elements of NEPA is that it assures us that when proposed operations have a potential to impact the environment that they be given a thorough review and public airing through an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and a chance for citizens to register their concerns.
While the 2008 judgment was specific to the SOCAL range (where this recent incident occurred), it put a bit of a swagger in the Navy’s gait since then – because they know that at least for now the Supreme Court is prepared to be its handmaiden on issues of “national security.”
This is troubling because next week the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is poised to approve the Gulf of Alaska Warfare Training Range despite scant marine mammal population data in the range, and volumes of letters from OCR, NRDC, Alaska Marine Conservation Council and others commenting on the inadequacy of the EIS.
We also anticipate further expansions into other areas of the sea because the Navy seems bent on making the entire ocean their “Warfare Training Range.”
Neither NMFS nor the Supreme Court seems inclined to interfere.